On Boosie, Masculinity And Double Standards: It's Time To Address The Way Society Sexualizes Young Boys

There are two places one can count on to lose faith in humanity: public restrooms and social media apps.

Alas, no matter how God awful it may smell in the former, the stench of stupid in the latter often proves the hardest to endure. Last week, Lil' Boosie celebrated his son's birthday with a shout out that promised him a bag of money and "a bad bitch to give u some head." He followed that declaration with a 100 emoji, so we knew it was real.

Immediately, those with a different outlook on sex — namely the idea that a teenage boy who looks fresh out of third grade shouldn't be getting blown by an adult prostitute — had reactions ranging from utter disgust to debating whether or not to call child protective services. Boosie would go on to profess that he was merely "joking." I mean, I would say the same thing, too, if I didn't want to lose custody of my kids and was on parole until 2018.

A post shared by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom) on Aug 7, 2017 at 8:25am PDT

I'm not sure whether or not Boosie was truly joking. He is interesting in that he can be progressive in certain aspects, like rapping anti-Iraq war sentiments on a dance track and discussing nihilism and urban poverty in others.

This is especially true when it comes to his attitude about sexuality. He infamously and comically had dim observations about gay cartoons and gay sex. He's not that evolved in his thinking, and if he had sex with an adult woman when he was underage, he would presumably have no issue with his son doing the same. All too often are many of us repeating the mistakes of our parents. The same goes for many of us putting our own respective mistakes on mute.

Even if Boosie didn't mean he was joking, he at least offered an excuse. He knew he spoke out of term at least publicly. Someone let him know that of all the crazy shit he's said publicly, that might've went too far given it could spark an investigation and/or parole hearing.

Unfortunately, while Boosie may have pulled a "I was just playing, y'all" retort, it's hard to shake many of the responses to Boosie's initial pledge. For many men with internet access, Boosie's call was much ado about nothing. To those men, a minor boy having sexual contact with an adult woman was some sort of rite of passage.

There are plenty more like this. You see similar sentiments conveyed in the comments sections of articles posted about it. You also saw them in various comments section on Instagram where the post was shared.

Most co-signing are straight men. It's hard to believe they would have the same attitude about an adult male and their young daughter or young gay son. It would be no less distasteful or criminal act in either scenario, but the double standard is troubling. What makes it even more bothersome is that it reminded me that many men do feel this way.

How many times can many of us recall men saying questionable comments about sex to a young boy? While sexuality is often forced upon young girls all too early by menacing men, young boys are often sexualized too early albeit differently. Young men are often teased and coerced to look at young girls, and in select cases, women, in explicit sexual terms. To view them as conquest and to be coached into believing they have sexual autonomy at ages where their emotional intelligence and maturity cannot match their burgeoning hormones.

So yes, maybe it was indeed a joke, but what exactly was funny about it? Is the underlying sentiment any less troubling because it was later sold as humor? Did it alter the reality that when we talk about children being sexually abused, we usually only refer to young girls? And when it comes to Boosie co-signers, their opinions remains the same.

The truth can often be found in a joke and perversions often hide in plain sight. What he said was not okay. Those who defended him are even worse.